Calgary Centre byelection runners up eye future challenge

Liberal candidate Harvey Locke stopped by to congratulate PC candidate and MP-elect Joan Crockatt at her headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, on November 26, 2012. Crockatt won the close race. Mike Drew/Calgary Sun

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Both runners up in the Calgary Centre byelection say they’d consider running again after their combined totals garnered the majority of ballot check marks Monday.

Tory Joan Crockatt snagged the seat, collecting 10,201 votes — just under 37% of the total — following a close race with Liberal Harvey Locke.

His 9,034 votes coupled with Green Party candidate Chris Turner’s 7,090 accounted for more than 58% of voters’ support.

“It was clear that the vote split was the fundamental difference,” said Duane Bratt, political scientist at Mount Royal University.

Locke said he was ”unable to successfully invite people from the Greens and the NDP” to support him.

“We had a strong showing, but it wasn’t enough,” he said, adding he’d be open to running again, especially since he said Monday’s vote shows Calgary is not a “redneck town.”

Meanwhile, Turner, who said he garnered more support than a federal Green candidate has in Alberta previously, was clear: He didn’t steal votes from Locke.

The polls showed the Greens grew a lot of support throughout the campaign while support for the Grits stayed fairly steady, said Turner, adding his late support came mostly from disgruntled Conservatives, NDP supporters and undecided voters.

While Turner said he was disappointed he didn’t pull off a win, he was thrilled about the 25.6% of the votes he received.

“I think we built the foundation of something pretty powerful,” he said, adding he’d also consider running in a future election.